Germans take no chances as E.coli confounds experts

BERLIN (Reuters) - German shoppers at the epicenter of an outbreak of a rare strain of E.coli bacteria are trying to avoid suspect foods without much certainty about the exact source of an illness that has claimed at least 17 lives.

Germany has suffered 16 of the 17 reported deaths so far in the outbreak and the vast majority of the more than 1,700 cases of illness. Cases reported elsewhere in Europe and the United States have been among people who recently visited Germany.

With Germany's Robert Koch Institute disease control center on Friday reporting 199 new cases in the last two days, media coverage reflected a much higher level of concern than the last German food scare, over dioxins in eggs earlier this year.

The mass-circulation daily Bild ran the headline "Horror film! Doctors shocked by patients' suffering" and dwelled on the long-term health effects of the worst complications caused by the rare strain of E.coli, so far blamed on salad vegetables.

The general response seemed to be either to wash salad very thoroughly or avoid it altogether.

"I wash and wash and wash my vegetables. You can't stop eating them but I have children and so I'm buying only safe produce and cooking it," 43-year-old computer programmer Max Fehrer said at an organic grocery store in Berlin's Kreuzberg quarter.

But there was relatively little clarity for the public about what constitutes "safe" food. German health authorities played down initial comments blaming Spanish cucumbers, but continued to warn against raw cucumber, tomato and lettuce.

"The current recommendations remain, which are to avoid eating cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes in northern Germany," a health ministry spokesman said, adding that there was no reason at present to believe meat or dairy products were contaminated.

"I am still eating lettuce and tomatoes but I have given up right now on cucumbers," 36-year-old dance instructor Claudia Brueckner told Reuters as she shopped for groceries. "I know they are probably safe but I'm not going to take the chance."

DOCTORS "HELPLESS"

German consumers have become used to food scares, after the discovery of the toxic chemical dioxin in some meat and eggs in January this year. That was blamed on the illegal use in animal feed of fatty acids meant for industry.

But the dioxins were easier to isolate because all eggs in Germany carry a serial number making it much easier to trace the supply chain of potentially contaminated goods.

Also, the harmful effects of high levels of dioxin exposure are generally felt over the long term, whereas the rare new strain of E.coli now affecting Germany can kill in weeks.

E. coli bacteria themselves are harmless. But the strain that is making people sick in Europe has the ability to stick to intestinal walls where it pumps out toxins, sometimes causing severe bloody diarrhea and other complications.

The outbreak is causing bad infections and in a number of cases, complications affecting blood and kidneys. Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which frequently leads to kidney failure and can be fatal, has been diagnosed in hundreds of the cases.

Many patients have been hospitalized, with several needing intensive care, including dialysis due to kidney complications. Experts say it may be the most deadly such outbreak ever seen.

"It's like a medical helplessness from the times of the plague," Stefan Schreiber, a gastroenterologist in the northern city of Kiel, told Tagesspiegel newspaper.

With organic salad vegetables singled out in early warnings by health authorities -- infuriating their Spanish producers, who on Wednesday dumped produce outside the German consulate in Valencia -- German retail outlets tried to reassure the public.

"Farmer Heinrich says our operation uses no manure or compost from cows. Fertilization is carried out with legumes," read a sign above the lettuce at one organic grocery in Berlin, addressing fears that organic fertilizer may be responsible.

Nobody was buying the few dozen cucumbers still on sale and employees at the store said they were ordering less of the vegetable in response to the dramatic drop in demand.

Retailing giant Metro AG said shoppers were buying less and asking staff where vegetables originated. A spokesman said dropping prices on cucumbers would not help, adding: "If people thought a product was dangerous, even a 50 percent discount would not encourage them to buy it."